Will United Be Left Feeling Foolish After Tonight?

"If they say why? why? Tell them that it's human nature, why? why? Do they do it that way..."

Spain versus Portugal in tonight’s Euro 2012 semi-final clash is the sort of tie that makes you drool at the mouth- unless of course you’re a Liverpool fan as you probably already do that anyway.

Ronaldo, Xavi, Coentrão, Silva, Pepe, Fabregas… both sides boast an array of talent so awesome it’s enough to make you wonder why on earth you ever placed that bet on Germany to win the competition. One man who may feel like he has something of a point to prove to his club back home is Luis Carlos Almeida Da Cunha, who’s contract talks have apparently stalled after the winger had the audacity to ask for roughly half the wages of Wayne Rooney.

Regular readers will know I’m a massive fan of Nani, who’s goals and assists record put him up there with the best wingers in Europe. Yes, I know he can be more frustrating than a Mark Lawrenson joke, but he’s still a highly effective and dangerous talent, who’s only going to keep getting better.

Ashley Young’s poor showing at the Euros, while hardly enough to suddenly make his place in the United side come under question, has at least highlighted his inconsistent nature. Take last season for example, after a blistering start, he quickly faded until prior to Spurs away I’d begun to think he was a complete waste of money. Young then suddenly recaptured his early season form as United almost made it number 20. The point is, can we really afford to let Nani go and rely on Young to be an almost constant presence in the side?

Nani may end up signing the deal he’s been offered by United, or he may play hardball as they say and try and either engineer a move away, or wait until the club ups its offer.

One thing’s for certain though should Mr Da Cunha, have a superb game against Spain tonight, then all of a sudden his already considerable stock may just rise even higher and it may take more than the club thought to keep hold of him.

With the whole world watching a superb showing against the world champions may leave the Reds looking a bit well red fac…sorry not even I can stoop that low, let’s just say it could make the winger’s demands seem less frivolous.

You can check out Nani’s and Porutgal’s performance via our liveblog we’ll be running from the site tonight where you can get involved and contribute your thoughts and opinions. or you can listen to people like Lee Dixon and Mark Lawrenson..

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13 thoughts on “Will United Be Left Feeling Foolish After Tonight?”

The only people saying there’s a problem are the media so I’d take everything written with a huge pinch of salt. All United and Nani have said is that they are negotiating.

Afzal Jangeerkhan
3 years ago

I agree with you that Nani is a fantastic talent and that it would be foolish of United to even consider letting him leave. However, I look at Nani’s problem from a different angle. At the beginning of last season, Nani carried United single handed with blistering performances ON THE RIGHT WING !! He was then injured and by the time he came back Valencia had taken his place and Nani was forced to play on the left wing up till the end of the season except against City when he played on the right again in a defensive line-up. I would compare Nani with Valencia rather than with Young because his rightful place is on the right. How on earth can anybody prefer Valencia to Nani? Valencia is very strong, is very good at holding onto the ball and can defend very well but does that make him a winger? Valencia can play two to three matches on the trot without even TRYING to go past his full back ON THE OUTSIDE. Instead he would cut inside and as his left foot is totally useless he ends up very often not knowing what to do with the ball. Evra and Rafael find themselves more often on the by-line than Valencia. Surprisingly Valencia went past his defender against Swansea and Sunderland and his back pass to Carrick produced Scholes first goal and against Sunderland Young fluffed his pass completely. Why on earth he does not do it every week God only knows. Against Barcelona in the CL final he couldn’t go past Abidal a single time. Most of his assists come from hopeful hard crosses across goal rather than intelligently picking a partner in the box. On the other hand if you look at Nani in the Euros we see how Nani is a far more intelligent and skillful passer. Against Holland Nani made a very weighted and accurate pass across goal to Ronaldo who dummied Va Der Wiel to score. Against Denmark he provided Postiga with another beautiful pass in the box for the second goal. Against Croatia, He also picked Almeida with a pinpoint cross across goal for a beautiful header but Almeida was ruled offside. Finally his link play with Moutinho produced the cross for Ronaldo’s winning goal. Nani has yet to reach his peak and as I said above it would be foolish to sell him. His situation at United is similar to A Kanckelski’s who was forced to sit on the bench to make way for left-footed L Sharpe on the …RIGHT WING ! For those who are too young, Kanchelski was a brilliant right winger who could dribble, cross and score with both feet. He got so fed up that he engineered a move by pretending he had a stomach problem which United doctors could never sort out. Fergie got fed up and He finally moved to Everton. I’m afraid this is what’s going to happen with Nani moving to Italy or Spain.

chrisaus88
3 years ago

Kanckelski was trouble, Ferguson was fine with him going.

Gorse Hill Red
3 years ago

Afzel the part about Kanchelskis is not true at all, Kanchelskis had a regular place on United’s right wing and Sharpe never replaced at all. In fact Fergie desperately wanted him to stay but according to the manager it was the Russian mafia who got involved.

You should read his autobiography about the Kanchelskis episode very interesting indeed.

jetelinho
3 years ago

for me, it would be a HUGE HUGE BLOW FOR us if (IF) we were to lose him. I hope not but under the press pressure /which comes from where exactly I do not know even though the small man bernstein´ poor blue shopaholic ulcers may have their fingers in it …!/ I am not sure anymore. But yes, def. WANT HIM TO STAY HERE!!!

AJ
3 years ago

Nani still has 2 years on his Contract so it is not like we need to offer a new contract IMO he will stay and next season will be his best yet because at the Euros he has be amazing

Chaos
3 years ago

I totally disagree with you Afzal Jangeerkhan Valencia was Manchester United’s best player last season by far. I don’t need to say anything else because its a fact!

markyboy
3 years ago

Bebe was a big loss to portugal tonight!!

tose
3 years ago

nani was ok,,,,but JORDI ALBA was awesome ,this is the guy we need,whAt ever the price

Dont Ask
3 years ago

Why doesn’t Nani go past anyone anymore!? He used to have buckets of pace but he doesn’t seem to do this now. This is why the fans love Valencia so much!
I’m gonna sit on the fence and say im not fussed if he stays or goes as there are plenty of replacements out there. Harsh i know, as he has AMAZING games, but other times he just goes missing.

Anderson also has the same problem. He is so quick over 30 yards…but never does it. Just seems to sit back and watch.It’s almost as if he isn’t allowed to play!

Coaching maybe!?

John Tring
3 years ago

Utd look4ed foolish all season long. Clueless manager, rubbish players and lack of motivation all led to a disatrous season. Nothing seems to have been done, SAF is still there, nobody bought Evans who single-handedly lost the title for Utd and all the retirees and relics are still around. So, sorry Utd fans like me, Shinji alone can’t do magic. We need 4 new defenders, 2 midfielders and at laest 1 top strikers. Only SAF knows why be bought the players he did last summer. Result is there for all of us to see. Zero, zilch.